by Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY Sports

by Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY Sports

In fact, the Heat's big game in New York a year ago this weekend was against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. But overnight - when the Nets acquired Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett from the Boston Celtics - Brooklyn-Miami turned into an intriguing rivalry.

The palpable dislike and respect Boston and Miami had for each other transferred to the Nets, and an Eastern Conference rivalry sprouted.

"They might have on different color jerseys but you might see green when you see those guys. So that dislike, yeah," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said.

Don't forget the Ray Allen component, which is still a sore spot for both teams. Garnett and Pierce didn't like the way Allen left the Celtics. LeBron James pointed out Garnett and Pierce are no longer Celtics, and Garnett told James to mind his own business.

Rivalries in the NBA are alive and kicking, and the schedule-maker wasted no time delving into rivalry games.

Just look at how the season started: Bulls-Heat and Clippers-Lakers in the two premier games on opening night, and tonight, it's the first of four games between the Nets and Heat. All four games are on national TV, and ESPN will carry tonight's game.

"We absolutely believe we're capable of competing with them and that's something we're going to want to be doing down the line, obviously, in the playoffs," Nets center Brook Lopez told news reporters Thursday. "So we're definitely anticipating a high-energy, important game."

The NBA is loaded with rivalries, and it's good for teams and the league, as long as there's a proper - but not necessarily an even - mix of animosity and respect.

Bulls point guard Derrick Rosewas right about sitting out last season. However, is wrong when he says Pacers-Bulls is not a rivalry. It is.

The Bulls won the Central Division in 2011-12, and the Pacers took it last season. Both have stars (Rose and the Pacers' Paul George) and great coaches (Tom Thibodeau and Frank Vogel) and both want to win the division this season, take out the Heat and win the NBA championship.

Their first meeting this season on Nov. 6 will be televised by ESPN and by the time the play for fourth and final time this season on March 24, there's a great chance the game will have meaning in the Central standings and playoff race.

Rose said he views the Heat as Chicago's only rivalry, and that's a good one, considering the two teams played in the playoffs in 2011 and 2013, and there's a fine amount of dislike and respect, depending on whom is talking. Preferably, listen to Joakim Noah who can't hide his disdain for the Heat no matter how hard he tries.

Now, the Heat have rivalries in all directions: Chicago, Brooklyn, Indiana, San Antonio, Oklahoma City.

"There's a lot of teams that want to knock us off - a couple of teams in the Eastern Conference who hates us and we know who they are," James said. "We're not going to hide behind that."

It's good tension exists at Staples Center between the Lakers and Clippers. The city and region deserve it.

The Knicks and Nets have a nice borough feud going. The franchises have tweaked each other both aggressively and passive-aggressively.

The Southwest Division has a number of rivalries that will only grow bigger this season. Any combination of Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Memphis includes history, and New Orleans is trying to wedge in there.

Oklahoma City-San Antonio is pretty good, and just because of Dwight Howard, Rockets-Lakers will be worth watching.

The Clippers and Grizzlies have an intense dislike for each other after meeting in the 2012 and 2013 playoffs. Zach Randolph and Blake Griffin, presumably, don't see each other birthday gifts.

Golden State is playing with attitude, trying to become the King of California and will have established a strong rivalry or two by the end of the season.

Rivalries develop in many ways. Through season after season of heated regular-season and playoff games. Division foes. Trash talking. Dislike for players on the other team.

TWITTER FUN: Are the Sixers failing to tank?

It was a fun exercise on Wednesday night to search "Sam Hinkie" on Twitter with the Philadelphia 76ers leading the two-time defending champion Miami Heat 35-14.

The 76ers are supposed to be one of those teams who will tank this season in hopes of getting the No. 1 pick in the 2014 draft and landing Andrew Wiggins or any other of the top prospects in next year's highly-rated draft class.

Hinkie, the Sixers GM, is trying to rebuild from scratch, and losses are better than wins. But the Sixers still beat the Heat 114-110 in what will turn out to be one of the biggest upsets this season.

"Hinkie is probably in some dark room somewhere working on a trade to make sure this never happens again this season."

"Hinkie probably destroyed a couple TI-83 calculators in a fit of rage tonight."

"Meanwhile, Sam Hinkie is crying in his office"

"This is Sam Hinkie's worst nightmare."

"Sam Hinkie now taking offers to trade Evan Turner for a baloney sandwich"

The Phoenix Suns are expected to tank, but they beat the Portland Trail Blazers.

But here's the deal: Tanking does not happen in Game 1, with everybody watching the Sixers play the Heat on the day former Sixers guard Allen Iverson officially announced his retirement.

Tanking happens in Games 23, 38, 49, 55, 61, 68, 74 and so on.

Though tanking is already a hot topic, and the season isn't even a week old, NBA Commissioner David Stern assured reporters and fans that tanking is not an issue among owners.

He also cautioned that it is too early to determine who may or may not tank this season.

"One thing I've learned over the last 36 years is you better let the season play out and see what really happens," Stern said last week. "Because sometimes given the competitive nature of our players and given the high level at which the game is played, particularly after the top six or eight teams, we have teams that can surprise and maybe there will be some surprises this year."

WORLD CUP: FIBA announces wild card candidates

Fifteen national teams submitted applications for four wild cards in next summer's 2014 World Cup of Basketball in Spain, FIBA announced Thursday.

The 14 teams, who paid a â?¬500,000 donation with their application, will find out who receives a bid at FIBA's central board meeting Feb. 1-2 in Barcelona, Spain, just ahead of the draw for the World Cup on Feb. 3. FIBA also said it may narrow the field of candidates at its Nov. 23-24 board meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

FIBA said it will base its selection on three areas:

Sports and promotional aspects: popularity of basketball in the country; quality and results of the team; commitment of nation's best players to play in World Cup.

Economic aspects: involvement of TV and corporations in basketball events; importance of country's market to FIBA's partners; importance of country to World Cup organizers;

Governance aspects: Compliance with FIBA rules; quality of work of national federation; government support of national federation; participation in FIBA and FIBA zone activities.

Brazil (host to 2016 Summer Olympics) and China (number of people playing basketball in country) are considered strong favorites to grab two of the wild cards. Russia, Turkey, Italy and Greece will fight for at least one of the two remaining spots. Canada is a longshot.

Jeff Zillgitt covers the NBA alongside Sam Amick for USA TODAY Sports. Together they have a podcast and conduct weekly chats along with rotating in the NBA A to Z weekly column. Reach them at @JeffZillgitt and @sam_amick on Twitter.